Wastewater mud slinging on Seacoast

Wednesday

Dec 19, 2012 at 2:00 AM

NEWMARKET — Town officials are disappointed that only a week after announcing its agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on its nitrogen discharge permit, two neighboring communities have decided to appeal the permit.

Aaron Sanborn

NEWMARKET — Town officials are disappointed that only a week after announcing its agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on its nitrogen discharge permit, two neighboring communities have decided to appeal the permit.

Dover and Rochester recently filed an appeal against Newmarket's permit. Both communities have taken an interest in Newmarket's permit because, like Newmarket, their wastewater treatment plants are expected to be issued permits with the most stringent limit of 3 milligrams per liter (mg/l). Dover has already been issued a draft permit of 3 mg/l, while Rochester is still waiting to be issued its draft permit.

Newmarket Town Administrator Steve Fournier said he's not surprised by the appeal but said Newmarket is committed to its agreement with the EPA.

"It's a little bit of a disappointment," Fournier said. "We'd hoped they would recognize our decision to not appeal it. We understand their position that it potentially impacts them but we think it would've been better for them to wait for their permits before appealing."

Newmarket has potentially up to 15 years before it would have to build and operate additional treatment facilities to bring the town's discharge levels down to 3 mg/l. In the meantime, the town is being asked to get down to a limit of 8 mg/l in the next five years, then it will be allowed up to another five years for additional study to see whether the "science the EPA is using to determine these levels is correct" and whether it's necessary to get down to a limit of 3 mg/l.

"We just need to move forward with our plan and let the communities and the EPA figure it out," Fournier said.

Dover and Rochester are arguing for final permits of 8 mg/l because that standard would be less costly to implement.

Much like the multiple lawsuits surrounding the permits, the communities argue in their appeal that the N.H. Department of Environmental Services failed to conduct a formal and inclusive public rule-making process, as required by law under the federal Clean Water Act, failed to establish scientifically defensible water quality standards in its 2009 criteria for the Great Bay estuary, and that the EPA is using this criteria to issue the new permits.

The appeal also claims the EPA ignored scientific information presented by the communities that provides a contrary view of the criteria, ignored public comments made by the communities during the public hearing that was held earlier this year for Newmarket's permit, and declined to meet with the communities on multiple occasions to discuss its concerns.

Dover and Rochester are asking for a hearing in front of the EPA's appeals board and hopes to get the permit process stayed, pending a new peer review of the water quality criteria.

The decision by Dover and Rochester to appeal Newmarket's permit came under fire by the Conservation Law Foundation on Tuesday afternoon. The environmental group said it will add more delay to an already prolonged process.

"The Town of Newmarket made a constructive decision to move forward with solving water quality problems in the Lamprey River and Great Bay," said Peter Wellenberger, Conservation Law Foundation's Great Bay-Piscataqua waterkeeper. "The fact that Dover and Rochester have effectively overridden Newmarket's decision is the height of arrogance and jeopardizes the health of waters located in that community."

Wellenberger noted that as of September, the communities of Dover, Rochester, Portsmouth, Newmarket and Exeter had spent $750,000 on consultants and lawyers.

Exeter's wastewater treatment plant received its nitrogen discharge permit of 3 mg/l last week and will wait until after the new year to determine its next move.

Increased nitrogen in the Great Bay estuary has been blamed for the loss of eelgrass, a critical habitat for fish and other marine species. Both the DES and EPA have identified nitrogen discharge from wastewater treatment facilities within the estuary as a key contributor to the nitrogen increase.

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